A Bollywood actress was allegedly murdered by two aspiring actors, who tried to extort $28,000 from her family before strangling and beheading her and dumping part of her body in a water tank.

Amit Jaiswal, 36, and his girlfriend Preeti Surin are accused of inviting actress Meenakshi Thapa, 26, on a trip to Gorakhpur, a city near India's border with Nepal, where they held her hostage, London's Daily Telegraph reported.

The couple put her head in a bag and threw it out the window of the city-bound bus, police said

Police said the couple sent a message to Thapa's parents warning them she would be forced to do pornographic films if the family did not pay them 1.5 million rupees ($28,000).